NORFOLK

A police officer will not be charged for crashing into and killing a 79-year-old man while racing to the scene of a shooting, Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Greg Underwood said Friday. The family’s lawyer said a lawsuit is coming.

Officer Justin Benson, 41, was driving south on Hampton Boulevard with his lights and sirens on a little after 10 p.m. on May 7 when he hit Robert C. Crittsinger, who’d been trying to cross Hampton while going east on Surrey Crescent, Sgt. Daryl Jarvis said in a search warrant for Benson’s medical records.

Paramedics took Benson to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital with injuries that were described at the time as serious but not life-threatening. Police declined this week to say whether the officer has recovered or returned to duty.

Benson was driving 76 mph when the crash happened, according to data detectives pulled from his squad car’s sensors. But Councilman Paul Riddick said at a July meeting that he’d been told the officer was going as fast as 96 mph before the crash.

Crittsinger’s death was “a tragic accident, not a criminal act,” Underwood said in a letter sent Friday to police Chief Larry Boone.

Charging Benson would require proof the officer was endangering someone’s life or property and knew his actions would do so, Underwood said. Still, Underwood encouraged Boone to take a second look at how officers drive their squad cars.

“It cannot be disputed Officer Benson was driving well in excess of the speed limit and as a result, a review by the Norfolk Police Department of its policies and procedures is appropriate,” Underwood said.

Norfolk police did not respond to requests to talk about Underwood’s letter.

A general order issued by the department in 2014 says officers on emergency calls should not exceed speed limits by more than 15 mph, except during pursuits. The speed limit on that stretch of Hampton Boulevard is 35 mph, and there was no pursuit that night.

Benson still works for the Norfolk Police Department and has been with the department since 2007, Virginian-Pilot databases show.

Crittsinger’s family members are disappointed but not surprised by Underwood’s decision not to prosecute, said Gary Byler, a lawyer representing them.

The relatives have tried to find out what happened, but City Attorney Bernard Pishko stonewalled them at every turn and admonished Byler not to contact any city official but him, the lawyer said.

“They’ve basically blown us off,” he said.

Pishko didn’t respond to requests to talk about what Byler said. But one of his deputies told Byler in mid-November officials would release the information he wanted after Underwood decided whether to prosecute Benson, according to correspondence Byler shared with The Pilot.

On Friday, Byler said Crittsinger’s relatives are going to sue, giving them the power to subpoena and force information from city officials.

“My people want answers more than money, but apparently we’re going to ask for both,” he said.

Byler said he hasn’t decided on an amount they’ll try to get from the city.

Crittsinger’s death got the attention of city leaders when Riddick brought it up in July, telling his fellow council members Benson was going too fast.

“It was negligence on our part, and as I said initially, I hope we’re not trying to hide behind sovereign immunity,” he said. “It was clearly negligence on our part.”

Other council members said nothing. Riddick, a frequent critic of the Police Department and former Chief Michael Goldsmith, later said he was surprised police have provided so little information.

“They just act like it never happened,” he said, echoing Byler.

Other officers went to the scene of the shooting in Ghent.

The 32-year-old victim told police he was shot during a robbery attempt, but his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. The robbers had run away by the time police arrived.

Byler has said he has become “increasingly alarmed” at how often police, especially state troopers, engage in high-speed pursuits.

“This is happening far too often,” Byler said. “An emergency’s an emergency. But any exercise of police power, when you can exercise discretion, you ought to.”

Crittsinger, a native of Buffalo, was a retired computer programmer and “an outgoing man who never met a stranger and who loved Jesus, life, and his church family,” according to his obituary. He had served in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

People in the Riverfront community remembered him as one of the best neighbors they’d ever had.

More information

Shortly after 10 p.m., a Norfolk police cruiser was responding to a report of a gunshot disturbance. It was traveling south on Hampton Boulevard when a Toyota Prius pulled out from Surrey Crescent and collided with the cruiser, according to police.

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